The rise of the cloud employee

The workplace is changing and more and more it’s becoming about distributed teams, collaboration, and connectivity. Gone is the employee based in the international office expected to travel from town to town. With today’s technology, the airport lounge veteran has been replaced by the cloud employee: the individual who can work from just about any location via any device because they are connected via the multitude of devices, apps, and data residing in the cloud. And it’s not just the cloud employee – the new economy is made up of companies who have built their business around cloud employees.

Shaping the cloud workforce

IDC predicts that two-thirds of the CEOs of Global 2000 companies will have digital transformation at the center of their corporate strategy, by the end of 2017. More and more companies in the new economy are ditching their offices, in favor of a workforce made up of cloud employees.

In fact, this was exactly the decision made by Matt Mullenweg, founder of WordPress and CEO of Automattic. Automattic is a completely cloud-based company, which means that its 400 staff work across 40 counties, from wherever they are in the world. It could be home, a coffee shop or co-working space. Although this model may be extreme to some, this paradigm is influencing the essence of how people are running their businesses – with many cloud employers making the switch citing cost savings and a more productive workforce.

Tools of the trade

With new technologies and applications allowing people to work remotely, it’s easier than ever for employees to collaborate with co-workers and receive updates globally – without the need for in-person interaction.

Additionally, as a new generation enters the workforce, organizations are looking to equip Millennials with the right technologies and adapt to changing working practices. By 2020 it’s estimated that millennials will make up over half of the global workforce, a generation who have grown up with technology in their back pocket and use an array of tech to help ease everyday life. According to the 2016 Future, Workforce Study three in five millennials believe that the adoption of improved, collaborative communication technology and remote teams in the workforce could soon make in-person meetings redundant.

Although office space may be good for encouraging communication and collaboration between employees, more often than not even a small distance or partition can have an impact on employee relations. So if a different floor has the same impact as a different office, why not allow your employees to be based in different countries!

For cloud employee’s, here are some tips to be successful in an always connected world.

Block out time

Whether remote or in the office, we can run from meeting to meeting or suffer endless interruptions. Block time on your calendar for you to do your work. Ensuring you have the team to address your action items or workload is critical.

Make time for your life

Beyond blocking time of your workload, make some time for your family and friends, or just rest. Recharging is real and required. If you don’t your productivity will go down.

Maximize the mobile moment

The great thing about our smart devices is that we can respond to things quickly – not letting them build upon us. Banging out three quick emails from your phone can keep things moving smoothly, and keep emails from piling up.

BYOC (Bring Your Own Cloud)

The mobile office is more important than ever. So pick the tools that help your work and share your favorite apps with your customers and colleagues. They may not know about that killer app you’ve been using and welcome being introduced to it.

Try alternatives to email

Try Slack, HipChat, CoTap, or one of the new team messaging solutions. The instant communication helps to cut down on emails and connect everyone faster.

Fewer meetings and more conversations

The quick conversations we have in the hallway or at the cubicle can now be done in the cloud for any remote worker. Take the lead, jump on online for quick discussions and brainstorms. Get answers quickly, then get off.

The company cloud

Organizations and businesses will most likely have their preferred apps and solutions – so make sure you’ve got them!

Stephen Duignan, VP International Marketing at LogMeIn
Stephen Duignan is VP International Marketing at LogMeIn and is responsible for product management as well as the growth of key geographies, markets and products. Having held previous positions at SanDisk and Dell, Stephen has over 20 years global experience with a diverse range of products including SaaS, IT hardware and software.